Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-01-13
THE GREAT LONDON DAILY.
G. w. Smallev Talks About The London
Times and It's PecuIiaritics.

/ The position of the London Times is
unique in journalism. Its circulation is
not stated, but it probably issues about
| rs, 600 copies each day. This figure, how
ever, does not represent its actual Circu
latiOn, for the English newsdealers have
a peculiar system ~ letting out The
/ Times. \ single copy is sent each morn
! ing TO four or five persons, each OF whom
! pays a penny for the privilege of reading
I the paper for an hour or two. This Gus
tom arises from the high price Of The
| Times, which is 3 pence (6 CentSl, while
the other papers are sold for a penny q
| centsD each. The Times however, has lost
nothing by the prosperous growth of its
| rivals; indeed. in one sense, the other
! journals are not rivals, they are but con
! tempOrarieS. The Times has maintained
! itself in power and circulation, nOtwith-
standing the rapid gsowth of the penny
press. This may he accounted for in varj-
Gus ways. The Times is the oldest of the
great English dailicS, and the English
man, rs you know, reVerenCes an author
ity which comes with age. The Times
has always been the authority in English
journalism, and il is almost a religious
belief with Englshmen that it must
always be 81.
Then, again, il is the policy of The
Times to engage the abieSt writers.
Other journals have individual COutribu
! tors as able as those of The Times, but it
is the policy of the latter To have the
most and to pay the most The Standard,
We will say, may have to-day an editorial
on a given topic equal to or possibly
superior to that of The Times but, On
the whole, the columns of the latter are
the best written. come nearest to repre-
Senting public opinion and have the most
euthentiC information The Times keeps
nearest the popular movement and the
popular opinion; il has its touch on the
popular pulse more surely than its CON
tempOraTies. II may sometimes be out
done i'll this respect. but not often and
not for long. II is also the great organ
of publicity. II the average Englishman
has a letter to write to the preSs-and Eng
lishmen are prOvcrbial inr ihis-he sends
It, not to The Telegraph. The Standard,
| The Morning Post or The Chronicle, but
TO The Times: if he wishes to keep abreast
of the movements of the world he reads
The Times each morning. Not that he
neglects other journals. but whether il
agrees with his views or not he looks
upon the Thunderer as necessity.
And yet The Times has its faults. IL
is for one thing tn. worst sub-edited
paper in England. | do not think that
We use the term sub edited very com
monty in America, hut I refer to what we
call here the make up and other det =
of the paper. The Times MATTER i. a,t
classified. II il contains half dozen CON-
nunicStinns, or half a dozen items of
news, or half dozen dispatches pertain
ing to single subject, they will very
likely be found in half n dozen portions
of the paper, as if they had wandered in
at hsphaZard. And IL i careless about
local news The Times has its peculiari-
ties as well. II is a sacred CUSTOM which
has never been and probably never will
he violated. that seems 10 neccss!iate in
that journal. however great may be the
pressure of the matter or whatever mighty
event may have occurred, that The Times
shall contain every morning four leading
articles, each little over Il column in
length. For example, one on English
politics. one on Continental politics, one
on an ecclesiastical theme and one upon
literature, art, sciene or socisl matters.
CIV Smalley in The Journalist.